With all the EXCITEMENT going on at school this term, it was hard to find a quiet spot. Not just with the Ilvermorny students around but also his dorm had just progressively gotten more and more crazy. Or maybe that was just his impression. Who knew? Maybe that was just what happened. With age, you know. Puberty or whatever. Those things they talked about in their science club meeting. Okay, maybe not EXACTLY those things but just the general....never mind.

What mattered was that lately he'd felt the need to be on his own more often.

Just so he could focus on his own things.

So now he was sitting on the floor of the bridge, resting his back against the wood and holding a book up to his nose. Occasionally he used his wand to renew his heating charm he'd cast around himself. Especially his bum, seeing as the bridge was rather cold at this time of year. But he quite liked it here.

It was nice.

Daisy was, generally speaking, a pretty cheerful person. Unlike most of her housemates, she wasn't prone to sulking or brooding, or talking long walks to work out her feelings. It wasn't that she didn't have those -- she did, strong and powerful and pulsating just underneath her skin even if she liked to pretend she was very subtle -- but usually she wasn't that affected by then.

So really, what was happening here was that her unusually late run had taken her on a longer path than normal. Yup, she was definitely not going to the bridge to stare off into the distance and ponder on stuff. No, sir.

Or maybe that had been just a little bit of a lie, but once her gaze fell on the boy sitting down and reading, she completely forgot about it.

"Hey, I know you." She said as she approached him in a light jog, before stopping right infront of him and looking down as she zipped up her jacket. She didn't personally know him, but she had made it her job to keep an eye out for her brother last term and that included know who his dormmates were. Just because she didn't want Maxton to deal with dormmates like hers, of course. "Isn't it a little cold to be here reading?"

The leaves on the trees had almost lost all of their leaves. There were a few stubborn leaves determined to stay on their trees but the majority covered the ground beneath them. With her woolen coat and house scarf and matching mittens on, Olivia had spent a while walking the grounds. She had decided to get outside and enjoy the last few moments of autumn that they would experience before winter was here.

She found herself soon by the wooden bridge and stopped in her tracks. Olivia took a deep breath, smiling, and allowed herself to relax. She loved the peace and quiet out here. Sometimes her own common room could be a bit too noisy for her own liking so it was fantastic to take a break away and just relax.

Since the arrival of the Ivermorny students, Noelle tried to venture outside a bit more. There were just too many students at the school right now. With a larger jacket on since it was about the middle of November now, Noelle headed to the bridge. Sometimes it was nice to just have some space alone.

As she walked, she pulled her wand out and rotated it between her fingers. Deciding to practice her warming spell, she cast it around her as she walked, leaving a bit of a warm trail behind her.

Inner peace. No crying not today again. She had already had a bit of an emotional morning already.

She had closed her eyes and was stretching her arms up high into the sky when she felt warm air surround her momentarily. She blinked. What was that? she wondered and turned in the direction of the lovely warmth and saw a very familiar face. Hey! It was Noelle. She hadn't seen her in ages. "Noelle!" she called out, waving to her, and headed over towards the other girl. Once she reached her, she grinned more. "How's it going?"

Cameron was way too engrossed in his book to notice anyone approaching. Maybe he SHOULD be more aware of his surroundings, especially after all the craziness from last term. Apparently he was too trusting in the staff's ability to keep them safe though, seeing as he neither heard nor saw his fellow Slytherin coming closer to where he was sitting.

Oh hi.

Starting just a tiny little bit - not noticeable, hopefully - Cameron looked up upon hearing someone address him.

Oh.

..........oh.

Wow.

He blinked.

It was...why was she talking to HIM?! And she KNEW HIM?? WHAT? How? Okay, maybe he should SAY something. Something intelligent you know. Why did these things keep happening to him? "Hi." Yes, well done. Very intelligent. Very polite. Was it too cold? What? He looked down at his lap for some reason, being unable to look at his bum, the only part of him really touching the ground. "Not really." Pause. "I used heating charms." Clever, huh? He was so clever.

"I'm Cameron." Since he assumed, Daisy didn't know his name, you know. Why would she?

You would think that growing up around her Mum would have taught Daisy not to randomly sneak up on people who were reading but, apparently, that was a lesson that she hadn't quite learned yet. His startle wasn't noticed, mainly because she was busy walking backwards until her back hit the railing on the opposite side of him, but for a second there he had seemed so into the book that she had almost felt sorry for interrupting him.

That was probably why he took so long to talk, actually. Oops.

"Hi." She replied, lips twitching amusedly as she looked down at him and leaned against the railing, crossing her legs at the ankles. One eyebrow rose up at his words. "Heating charm. That's very clever of you. You would probably be cosier in the common room, though." Maybe he had a beef with the Giant Squid, but did he even know that Junia and Etta had been taken by the portal from this spot? While she made snow angels but that was unimportant for now.

Not a good place to hang around at, not at all.

Cameron. She supposed she knew that; or should have known that -- one of these. "I'm Daisy. I think you might know my brother, actually." Well, she knew he did but it was probably wrong to assume things. Even about second years.

Be cool, Cameron.

Looking up at her, he felt particularly small. Which he was NOT. He was basically a grown-up after all. His birthday was soon...ish. And then he was going to be a TEENager. Talk about being a grown-up. So, should he stand up too? So they'd be of equal height? Sort of. Okay, he would still shorter than her but he HAD grown over the summer. And his parents kept saying that he was going to be really tall some day. Only when was that-

Clever.

She'd called him clever.

He WAS clever, wasn't he? Cameron grinned at her, forgetting all about his previous train of thought. So clever. She looked impressed. "I know. But it's usually very loud in the Common Room." And he preferred the quiet sometimes. Not all the time. He liked hanging out in the common room too. Would she think he was some kind of loner now? Because he wasn't. He had friends. Cool friends. Friends he liked to spend time with. "And I was trying to read." Hence his preference for the quiet. That made sense right?

Had she really just introduced herself? REALLY? "I know." He'd said that before he could stop himself. Cameron topped it off with a smile though. Smooth, right? People liked it when others knew their names, right? "Yes! I do! He's great!" Her brother that is. Mhm. Awesome. "What are you doing out here?" Good question, right? He was quite proud.

Noelle's wand moved in a little bit of a pattern as she trailed her warming charm around her as she walked. Her thoughts were lost in a certain secret. One that made her smile, despite the sad underlining of what had happened.

Hearing a name, her name, she was pulled from her thoughts and stopped walking to look around. She grinned when she saw Olivia. Sliding her arm around her waist once Olivia was near enough, Noelle cast the warm charm around her as well. "Hey! Its going. Enjoying some quiet and a bit of a walk. What are you up to?"

A smile tugged at her lips as Noelle slid her arm behind her waist and cast the heating charm around her too. She hadn't realized how cold had been before that. Merlin. Good idea. She was grateful that Noelle had cast the charm. "Thanks," she said and then listened to her friend speak about what she was up to. Walking and enjoying the quiet. That sounded lovely.

"That sounds wonderful. Hogwarts has certainly been noisy with the visitors especially when some of them danced on the table. They're nice though. It's great to have some new faces around," she admitted. Plus the Illvermornians were all very attractive and some of them were very flirtatious too. Though she had liked the ones that she had met, especially Lachlan. He was very much a gentleman. "I'm also just out for a walk. I was feeling restless and needed to get away from studying."

Oh, right. It was important that they knew each other's names before embarking on a science adventure. Jessa, that was her name. It sounded familiar and now she remembered that she was Derf's friend and that's why she seemed familiar. Apparently the girl knew her, too. She smiled a little when she referred to her as Derf's mermish friend. "Yeah, that's me." She loved that plushie he got her. It was nice to cuddle. "Natalie," she added, in case she didn't know.

Anyway, back to science and charms and -- wait. The fear returned when Jessa mentioned something about screaming and running to the Hut if something went wrong. Her stomach twisted. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Had she asked that already. She could run fast enough, but still... she would like it if she didn't have to.

"I wouldn't go there if you paid me a million No-Maj dollars," Aurora grumbled, wrinkling her nose. Seriously, why would ANYONE go anywhere NEAR a dark, scary forest like that? Even if it DIDN'T have giant spiders in there? Why did Aurora get the suspicion that this school was secretly trying to kill everyone who stepped foot in it? Between the moving staircases and the Forest of Death and secret passages that could cave in at any time...

"So like...hall monitors?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Glorified hall monitors, it sounded like. She was sort of glad that they didn't have something like that. She didn't need people constantly following her, wondering what she was up to.

"Aurora Chae," she said with a smile, shaking the girl's hand in return. "Oh? Have you been there?" she asked. That was odd, for a Hogwarts student to visit Ilvermorny - half their school seemed to be flocking HERE in recent years...

It was always a nice surprise when people you liked joined you on things you liked. Like Olivia joining her on her walk. Noelle's wand twirled around in different patterns as they walked. She was warm enough, Noelle just liked doing something with her wand. Practicing, always practicing. Keeping her arm around her, Noelle continued to walk.

"Yeah, its been a bit crowded in there, but I feel bad for them having to sleep in the beetle all year long. I mean... I know its magic and its spacious and what not, but... it just seems cramped." Though, Noelle was definitely happy she didn't have to share her bed. "Yeah, Im taking a break from studying. I am trying to work on nonverbal spells. Doing simpler ones. Working my way up. " The warming charm was proof that she'd at least managed to do one nonverbal spell.

That was right. The Illvermonians were stuck in the beetle and had to sleep there all year long. It would have surely been somewhat close still. Olivia nodded. "Yeah, I do see what you mean," she nodded. "It must be strange for them to be here at Hogwarts and around so many people that they don't know." She hoped that the visitors were enjoying themselves here. From what she had learned from some of them, Hogwarts was certainly far more different than Illvermony. Less things wanted to kill you there. That's what Lachlan had told her.

Non-verbal spells? That sounded fun. Olivia nodded. She enjoyed non-verbal spells herself and had been working on a couple too. She needed to be confident in her ability before she could move up to the next level and then onto wandless magic. She loved the idea of wandless magic. It was just so cool -- you could practically be a jedi using the force. "It's nice to take a break form studying. This year is so different from last year already... No gaping portals with monsters jumping out. It's nice." Apart from that, friends were also getting together as couples. So much was happening. Olivia was changing too. She hadn't grown taller or changed in appearance too much. She just felt herself becoming 'older' if that made any sense but she was still the same silly adventure-seeking professional gravity tester that she had always been.

Hmm... A thought crossed her mind. "Noelle, could I ask you for some advice..?"

Noelle thought about the Illvermorny kids. One in particular. She grinned to herself. "I'd look at it like an adventure. How cool would it be to go to their school?? ...." Noelle's mind went wandering on that. "I wonder what we could arrive in.... Because I'm betting it wouldn't be a train." She giggled at the thought.

Nonverbals were new to her but once you get the energy and the intention down, then it just takes time transferring that. Hirsch showed her that. Noelle could gush about that man. All the things that he has done for her, Noelle was lucky. "Im working on nonverbal shield and defense spells... they are hard. Plus conjuring a patronus." Those were HARD. No matter what memories she used, it didn't seem to be enough. "Have you been able to conjure a patronus?" She asked, giving her friend a little squeeze.

Looking at her again, Noelle tilted her head. "Of course! Tell me all the things!" She said as she stopped walking on the bridge and leaned against it. "I cant offer the best advice, but I can give you the best from me."

Olivia grinned. It would be incredible to go to Illvermorny. She wondered what it was like over there. She laughed, imagining the Hogwarts crew going to Illvermorny in a train. She doubt that the Hogwarts Express would make the trip. That would be a little much. "They'd probably hand us a portkey."

She nodded in agreement. Non-verbal shield and defense spells were hard. She had been able to cast one last year but since then she hadn't had much luck. She would have to practice more. A patronus was very HARD to conjure. Olivia hadn't figured it all out yet. She had the wand movement and incantation down ....but finding the happiest memory that she had? That remained a mystery. Olivia shook her head. "Not yet. I have the incantation and wand movement but I haven't been able to find the happiest memory of mine. I've tried other memories but apparently none of them are the happiest one I have. What about you?" she asked with a curious smile. She had been glad that several of their mates had been able to conjure up patronuses during the competition against the "dementor" or whatever that creature was.

Olivia bit her lip as Noelle asked her to tell her all things. She glanced around them, making sure no one overheard and then went to the edge of the bridge, resting her arms on the ledge as she glanced down. Woah. She turned her gaze quickly up. She didn't like heights. "Umm.. How do I put this?" she said. She was never good with expressing how she felt. "How do you discreetly let someone know that you have feelings for them without scaring them away?" she said.

"Right, yeah, that's your name." Jessa practiced the wand movements a few times, trying to be sure she had it. If something went wrong, there was a chance it would go really wrong. Any possibility of avoiding that would be looked into. "Do you really speak mermish?" She glanced up at her briefly before going right back to the wand movement. "Because it'd be proper useful to me if you did." The lake was a particular interest piece to the Ravenclaw. Being able to speak to some of its inhabitants would have been absolutely wild.

The question had the girl looking up again. Was this a good idea? "I don't know." She confessed. "I suppose we'll have to try it to find out." That was how she worked. Couldn't be sure about very many things unless she'd given them a try for herself.

"Alright. I think I'm ready."

Jessa took a deep breath than took aim at herself. The incantation was uttered and a light did appear but when she opened her previously shut eyes....nothing seemed to have happened..........."Huh." Perhaps she hadn't done it right. Perhaps in deed given the hand sticking out of her other hand that spoke clearly to a botched spell. It wiggled about freely enough, but it was a disappointment in the end.

A portkey?? That was so BORING. Not to mention too many people on one portkey. "We need to show up in style though." Noelle said with a grin.

"I havent been able to. Ive been working on it. I just need to find a good memory." Noelle said, wrinkling her nose and looking out under the bridge. She threw a pebble down. "I was able to do a nonverbal shield spell." Hirsch's face when she did it was priceless. "But that competition made me realize I need to up my game. It was amazing how some of them could do it though." Probably being face to face with a dementor.. or .. whatever that was, made you do things you didnt realize you could do.[/b]"

Noelle's gaze fell back on Olivia as she asked that question. She giggled. "I think it depends on the person. Whose this person?"

In style? What was something completely Hogwarts style? "I would have suggested a car but it seems as if that's Illvermorny's style. What is something truly Hogwartian?" she wondered as she pursed her lips. "And what's stylish too? We could always show up in the boats that we send first years on though they aren't the most efficient," she joked.

So they were in the same place, huh? "Perhaps you'll get a really happy memory this year," said Olivia with a small smile. Upon mention of the competition, she nodded slowly in agreement. Yeah. The dementors and everything.... That was terrifying. "Yes, I was really worried about the competitors. Some of the competitors did cut it close." She wondered what the next task would involve? Dragons? Mermaids? Boggarts? Her imagination ran wild. "I also need to practice. I wouldn't have been able to make it through that task." Olivia bit her lip.

She blushed, taking her loose curly hair and tying it up into a ponytail. "I thought it'd be obvious," joked Olivia. She didn't exactly want to utter his name. She was very hesitant about it all for fear that someone would overhear them and tell said person. "Our friend and your fellow co-Prefect."

Noelle looked out over the bridge, chewing her lip because rather liked the thought of them showing up in style. "We could get a carriage and have hippogriffs and threstals or some sort fly them over there. The carriage could be painted in all the house colors." Olly would help with that. He was a superb artist. She giggled at the thought. "We could step out to the Hogwarts song." If that didn't represent Hogwarts, she didn't know what would.

But yeah. Patronus. "You and I should practice. We can also work on non-verbals. I think that would be fun." She said looking over at Olivia with a smile. "Yeah. Maybe theres a trick to finding that happy memory." What if it wasn't just one? Or like Torrance had told her, fake it till you make it.

Now onto boy business. Noelle studied Olivia as she didn't exactly say Ace's name but... yeah. She giggled. "You like Ace" She asked. Her curly headed co-prefect who she adored. "He is pretty great. Is he dating anyone right now?" It wasn't something they talked about during patrols and such. "Oh! What if I talk to him for you?" My friend thinks you're cute ,sort of deal.

Now that was a beautiful idea that Olivia hadn't thought of carriages and thestrals and flying horses and hippogriffs. It seemed beautiful. She had always been fascinated with magical creatures that could fly. They were free and could just soar away from any problems that faced them. "The Hogwarts Song. Ooh bringing in the real guns," she grinned. That would be a perfect way to show off their love for their amazing school.

Olivia didn't know why it was so hard to say his name in conversation. The way Noelle said it made it seem like this all wasn't really a big deal. She just needed to talk to him. Though that idea of speaking to him just terrified him. "I do like him...." she said with a nod as she stared at the horizon. "I like Ace." Her cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink. See? It hadn't been too, too hard to say his name. As for him dating someone, Olivia didn't think so. She had heard rumors hear and there about something but couldn't make head or tail of what it was about. "I haven't heard that he's dating someone." Merlin. She hoped he wasn't.... Well that wasn't entirely true. If he was dating someone, she hoped that they were a decent person that deserved him. He deserved the best because he was just such an amazing person. Then Noelle suggested that she could talk to him for her. Oh! Um... Olivia didn't know how to feel about that. "Oh wow. That's really nice of you to offer." Though she wasn't sure. What if it backfired? Silly girl. How could it possibly backfire? She was over-complicating it. "...I'm not sure.. What would you say?" she asked with a curious smile.

Flying horses and Hippogriffs were probably better. But how awesome would it be if there were flying ropes because the kids couldn't see the thresals? Noelle couldn't see them. There weren't any images in the books, just descriptions. She wondered if the people that had seen death, could see the pictures in books of them as well. "Well, we HAVE to have our song play." Of course, it was very outdated. But it was Hogwarts. It was home.

Awwwwwwww. Look at Olivia getting all blushy at the mention of Ace's name. Noelle couldn't help but giggle at that. She hoisted herself up on the bridge. She pulled her wand out and made sparks come out of it, trailing Olivia's name then Ace's with a plus symbol in between. "I coooould be like, have you met my friend Olivia?" She said with a teasing grin. "Or the infamous, 'hey my friend has a crush on you. She wants to know if you like her too.'" Noelle giggled. She could totally help make match maker.

"Or, while we are doing patrols, I could ask him if he fancies anyone. Try to get some dirt from him. But I like the direct approach myself." Must be the Gryffindor in her. "Its up to you." Now she was making the sparks from her wand into heart shapes as she twirled it around.

Noelle was right. They did HAVE to have their song play when they entered. Every group needed a theme song. A funny thought spontaneously popped into the Gryffindor's mind. What if they lived in a world where they all had their own "superhero" themed entrances? Like ones that you would hear at a muggle baseball game or so like those ones that her Dad had described going to as a child. "What if we all had our own themes songs?" she said, rather randomly. What song would she choose... Merlin. She had no clue.

Olivia's eyes widened as she watched Noelle write her name and then added a plus sign with Ace's name following. She waved her hands in front of it in a spazzy manner just in case anyone was watching. Oh Merlin. Whose face was as red as her scarf right now? Olivia's was. She laughed. "That sounds like a variation of the muggle show's version of 'Haaaaave you Met, Ted'?" she said, trying to pronounce it like Barney Stinson had on the Muggle show. Ah that show was fantastic- she still didn't really like the finale episode. Olivia liked to omit that one from her mind.

As Olivia listened to the options that Noelle presented, she paused. Honestly she wasn't sure what would work best. Perhaps just walking up to her friend and telling him. She personally liked the indirect method the best or the .. Oh Merlin. She didn't know. She had never really liked anyone before. Sure, there had been other guys but... This was different. Maybe? Agh. Emotions sucked. "Those all sound good... but maybe I should just go up and tell him too," she said with a shrug of her shoulder. "What would you do in my situation?"

What if we all had our own theme songs? Noelle tilted her head at Olivia, a little confused. "What do you mean? Own theme songs? Like me personally have one, and you personally have one, or like each house of Hogwarts have one?"

Hehehe. Olivia being so embarrassed by her name being wrote with Ace's was adorable. "Why are you so embarrassed to like him? Or well.... have people know that you like him?" Noelle asked while wrapping her arm around one of the poles and shifting her weight to look over the bridge, dangerously so. "But yesss! You've seen that muggle show? Mum used to watch it religiously when I was really smol." She giggled. Trying out her best Barney expression she said, "Haaaaaave you met Olivia?"

But Noelle was giving Olivia the option to choose. She was curious though, "Have you ever liked anyone before? Or snogged them?" Vital information. Also. "Or have you ever liked anyone before and told them? Or dated anyone?" More vital information.

If it was her...
"If it was me..." Noelle started as she leaned back over the bridge, her hair dangling in her face. "Well... when Noah and I had first started dating, It was direct communication between us. But, that's because back then.. I wasn't shy about my feelings. Plus, Noah had told me first that he had liked me. It made it a lot easier to express my feelings." Not to mention, even at 12, she'd felt safe with him. Comfortable. "It's up to you though!"

"Everyone has one. It's like in tv shows or movies how sometimes a small melody will play whenever they're on screen or doing something that the audience should be paying attention too." Hopefully that made more sense? The thought was rather spontaneous and she just blurted it out. "Merlin if everyone had one, all the songs could clash." And that wouldn't be pleasant to listen to. Full of discord. Not nice.

It wasn't that she was embarrassed. Olivia kept a wary eye on Noelle as she leaned over the bridge a little bit too far for her comfort zone. "Merlin, be careful," she said, not wanting her friend to fall onto the other side. If Noelle did.... Olivia would panic surely. "I'm not embarrassed... I just am cautious. Knowing my luck, he's been behind us the whole time as we've been talking about this." Admitting it meant it was real and she didn't know why she was so stubborn about not admitting it. Admitting it meant that she would be vulnerable..

Now had Olivia seen the show? Oh no, she had not only seen the show, she was an avid fan of the show with knowing many quotes. Privately she fancied herself to be like Robin but she had a feeling that she was much more like Lily in personality. She laughed when Noelle nailed the impression. "It's gonna be.... wait for it.... LEGENDARY." Ah Barney Stinson was a gift to the world... we'll Neil Patrick Harris was at least. Talented, talented man.

Had Olivia liked someone before? She nodded. Last year, she had a crush on a much older friend of hers but he was in a relationship. It was a crush on someone who was completely out of her league. Oliver Finch. He was smart and handsome and very kind. "I had a crush on Oliver Finch last year. He was a seventh year. We're friends." Olivia had never thought about telling the guy though. It hadn't simply crossed her mind nor did she feel compelled to share that. And haaad she kissed someone? "...No. Only on the cheek as a greeting at Beauxbatons." She had never kissed someone before. "Erm... have you kissed someone before?" Curious.

Olivia nodded as she listened to Noelle speak about Noah. She wondered... "Where's Noah now?" she wondered if Noelle missed him.